Croatia wants to join the Schengen area and the euro area in early 2023

In the next two years, Croatia can meet two of its objectives, namely entry into the Schengen area and the euro area. He has full support and understanding for this in the European Union. This was announced on Friday in Brussels by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovič. Plenkovič participated in the two-day summit of EU leaders and also of the eurozone summit in the so-called inclusive format, which means that all the member states of the Union participated, not only those that introduced the common currency, the euro. "Our basic goal is to enter the Schengen area and we have met all the technical criteria. We want to join Schengen in 2022. I think we will succeed because I do not see any obstacles. As far as the eurozone is concerned, Croatia is fulfilling all its obligations under the action plan, and our ambition is to join it in early 2023, "he said. This means that on the 10th anniversary of EU membership, Croatia should already be part of a narrower monetary bloc. According to Plenkovič, the summit was an opportunity to reiterate Croatia's will to meet all the criteria and, after last year's entry into the exchange rate mechanism, to continue the action plan and create the conditions for the country to become a member of the eurozone in 2023. The Croatian prime minister planned to present at the summit a timetable for steps towards the introduction of the euro. Plenkovic expects the European Commission to approve Croatia's recovery plan in July, and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will come to Zagreb to personally give the green light to € 6.3 billion in grants.